Give as Your Heart Prompts

Acknowledging God

Give from a Generous Heart

Exodus 25:1-9 The Message

Instructions on the Mountain: The Offerings

25 1-9 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites that they are to set aside offerings for me. Receive the offerings from everyone who is willing to give. These are the offerings I want you to receive from them: gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goats’ hair; tanned rams’ skins; dolphin skins; acacia wood; lamp oil; spices for anointing oils and for fragrant incense; onyx stones and other stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breastpiece. Let them construct a Sanctuary for me so that I can live among them. You are to construct it following the plans I’ve given you, the design for The Dwelling and the design for all its furnishings.

For Reflection

God has given the moral and judicial laws. Now, God deliveries the ceremonial law. This law is the pattern for worship and ritual.  They are very specific.  Perhaps God, knowing the maturity of God's people, God sets just how God wants the religious ceremonies to proceed by the "book" so that it leaves little room for invention and establishing practices that would lead the people away from their focus and reliance on God.
In some ways, we still like the form of worship to be familiar and unchanging. Although God did not specify our contemporary patterns, they are in the same manner symbolic and intended to remind us of the basic tenets of our style of religion. The tradition of giving is still maintained. We offer time, talent and wealth as we are able.  We give from the heart for the love of God.

Pray

Pray so that you will commit your life and your treasures to the glory of God. Give to God the best you have to offer.

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Only One Can Open the Scroll

Acknowledging God

The Lord God Almighty

Revelation 5:1-5 The Message

The Lion Is a Lamb

5 1-2 I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One Seated on the Throne. It was written on both sides, fastened with seven seals. I also saw a powerful Angel, calling out in a voice like thunder, “Is there anyone who can open the scroll, who can break its seals?”
3 There was no one—no one in Heaven, no one on earth, no one from the underworld—able to break open the scroll and read it.
4-5 I wept and wept and wept that no one was found able to open the scroll, able to read it. One of the Elders said, “Don’t weep. Look—the Lion from Tribe Judah, the Root of David’s Tree, has conquered. He can open the scroll, can rip through the seven seals.”

For Reflection

Hard Question:
OK, so what is in the scrolls?

Answer:
I DON'T KNOW!  But consider this.  There is information on the outside of the scrolls which presumably could be read by anyone.  However, there is other information inside which can be revealed only through the son of God, the Christ.  Therefore, the more we understand about Christ the more we see God who has been hidden.

So what?
God reveals more and more to humans as we mature in our eternal journey to spiritual harmony.  Sound like a mystical explanation.  Well, it is! God is a mystery. God's will is that we grow in grace. God has shown us the path.  Study the scriptures in the light of Jesus and emulate Christ. Submit to unreasonable trust in God. Act as though you live for nothing else than to honor God and witness to the love God has intended us to enjoy. 

Pray

Pray so that you develop a more intimate relationship with God.  Pray so that your life choices result in the blessings that naturally follow your abiding love for God.

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Eat the Scroll, Speak My Words

Acknowledging God

The Lord God Almighty

Ezekiel 2:8-3:11 The Message

8 “Only take care, son of man, that you don’t rebel like these rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
9-10 When I looked he had his hand stretched out to me, and in the hand a book, a scroll. He unrolled the scroll. On both sides, front and back, were written lamentations and mourning and doom.

Warn These People

3 He told me, “Son of man, eat what you see. Eat this book. Then go and speak to the family of Israel.”
2-3 As I opened my mouth, he gave me the scroll to eat, saying, “Son of man, eat this book that I am giving you. Make a full meal of it!”
So I ate it. It tasted so good—just like honey.
4-6 Then he told me, “Son of man, go to the family of Israel and speak my Message. Look, I’m not sending you to a people who speak a hard-to-learn language with words you can hardly pronounce. If I had sent you to such people, their ears would have perked up and they would have listened immediately.
7-9 “But it won’t work that way with the family of Israel. They won’t listen to you because they won’t listen to me. They are, as I said, a hard case, hardened in their sin. But I’ll make you as hard in your way as they are in theirs. I’ll make your face as hard as rock, harder than granite. Don’t let them intimidate you. Don’t be afraid of them, even though they’re a bunch of rebels.”
10-11 Then he said, “Son of man, get all these words that I’m giving you inside you. Listen to them obediently. Make them your own. And now go. Go to the exiles, your people, and speak. Tell them, ‘This is the Message of God, the Master.’ Speak your piece, whether they listen or not.”

For Reflection

Interesting metaphor, isn't it?  Devour the Word with your mind and fill your soul with the essence of God. Displace the common understandings of embedded culture with an extraordinary culture of trust in God and a desire to follow the example of Christ.

Pray

Pray about all things.  Listen to the Word that the Holy Spirit delivers in your soul.

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Christ Our Suffering and Salvation

All Subject to God through Christ

Acknowledging God

The Lord God Almighty

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 The Message

16-20 If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.
21-28 There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist said, “He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them.” When Scripture says that “he walked all over them,” it’s obvious that he couldn’t at the same time be walked on. When everything and everyone is finally under God’s rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending!

For Reflection

Of what are you most afraid?  For some, it is public speaking. But for many others, it is the fear of death, psychological or physical. Christ's resurrection is both physical and metaphorical. The resurrection confirms life after death and a better life in our present form of existence. 

The resurrection also means that one need not fear the consequences of Christ-like living. Even though living alive in Christ requires facing making decisions which at times are not conventional and may lead to difficulties, we need not fear. We are freed to follow the Holy Spirit without regard to conventional consequences.

Pray

Pray so that you will have the confidence to go against the flow of human folly. Pray for the comforting and encouraging Word of God.

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Rejoice, Your Salvation is in Christ

Acknowledging God

The Lord God Almighty

1 Peter 1:3-9 The Message

A New Life

3-5 What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.
6-7 I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.
8-9 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to total salvation.

For Reflection

God created us in God's image.  We are not gods. Nor do we possess God's full capacities.  In fact, we can hardly imagine who or what God is or why God exists.  We can only understand God in light of what we know about ourselves. It is this separation from each other and from God that is one of our most defining characteristics.

God, our creator, does not dominate us. On the contrary, God sets us free. We are bound to face choices as God is free to choose.  We are also free, as is God, to enjoy or suffer the consequences of our decisions. God does not interfere.

We are capable of choosing to serve our self-interests in spite of injury we may inflict on others, or we can elect to sacrifice self-interest to enhance the greater good to the benefit of each other and Creation. Perhaps God faces that decision as well and chooses grace.

God has a recorded history with us humans that shows us the extent of God's love. God has bestowed gifts of intellect and emotion, communication through prophets, and revealed God's character through Christ. The promise of maturing into grace and transforming our human condition to reflect our equivalence in form, but not substance, to God so that we can live in harmony with Creation cannot be ignored.

Pray

Pray with your mind and your action. Invite the Holy Spirit to guide and support you. Thank God each day for the life that is you. Serve each other and Creation as God's stewards in a community of love.

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Vision of Four Living Creatures

Jesus, Our Example on the Throne

Acknowledging God

The Lord God the Almighty

Hebrews 12:1-11 The Message

Discipline in a Long-Distance Race

12 1-3 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
4-11 In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?
My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,
    but don’t be crushed by it either.
It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;
    the child he embraces, he also corrects.
God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

For Reflection

God's sacrifice for our sake should not be one taken in vain.  We who know Christ, we who love Christ, we who follow Christ, we who are to mirror Christ's life, WE are trusted with the will of God for his people. Will we dare let God down?

Pray

Pray so that you can run the race to its conclusion in obedience to the will of God.

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Moses Summoned By God

Acknowledging God

The Lord God Almighty

Exodus 19:20-25 The Message

18-20 Mount Sinai was all smoke because God had come down on it as fire. Smoke poured from it like smoke from a furnace. The whole mountain shuddered in huge spasms. The trumpet blasts grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and God answered in thunder. God descended to the peak of Mount Sinai. God called Moses up to the peak and Moses climbed up.
21-22 God said to Moses, “Go down. Warn the people not to break through the barricades to get a look at God lest many of them die. And the priests also, warn them to prepare themselves for the holy meeting, lest God break out against them.”
23 Moses said to God, “But the people can’t climb Mount Sinai. You’ve already warned us well telling us: ‘Post boundaries around the mountain. Respect the holy mountain.’”
24 God told him, “Go down and then bring Aaron back up with you. But make sure that the priests and the people don’t break through and come up to God, lest he break out against them.”
25 So Moses went down to the people. He said to them:

For Reflection

Moses was known as an oracle. He spoke in judgment of the people's disputes as a representative of God. He was an emissary of God. God had given him exclusive access to the Word.  Not even the priests who were by their office authorized to speak to God were not holy enough to approach God on the mountain.  Only Moses.

It gave Moses the exclusive authority to speak for God. Moses words became God's words. 

Pray

Pray so that you can hear the words of God, spoken in your soul.  Listen and meditate on God's will for you to witness to the Holy Spirit and through your action reveal God to those around you.

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Job's Plain Determination

Acknowledging God

TheLord God Almighty 

Job 1:6-12 The Message
The First Test: Family and Fortune
6-7 One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan, who was the Designated Accuser, came along with them. God singled out Satan and said, “What have you been up to?”
Satan answered God, “Going here and there, checking things out on earth.”
8 God said to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil.”
9-10 Satan retorted, “So do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart? Why, no one ever had it so good! You pamper him like a pet, make sure nothing bad ever happens to him or his family or his possessions, bless everything he does—he can’t lose!
11 “But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away everything that is his? He’d curse you right to your face, that’s what.”
12 God replied, “We’ll see. Go ahead—do what you want with all that is his. Just don’t hurt him.” Then Satan left the presence of God.

For Reflection

The challenges of life affect us all.  Even Job, a most righteous and faithful person is exposed to troubles. We are always tested by the problems of daily life and our humanity. The story of Job is not so much about what he has to confront but the attitude with which he responds. Job struggles to see God's intent in the events of his life. All who are around him cannot see God's intent for the life that is Job. Do you look for God's intention in the events of your life? Do you take the painful events as opportunities to grow in grace?

Pray

Pray so that you develop a vision of the intent of God in all that you confront.

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God Promises Mercy to All People

Acknowledging God

The Lord God, The Almighty

Genesis 9:8-17 The Message

8-11 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals—that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.”

12-16 God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between the Earth and me. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth, and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.”

17 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I’ve set up between me and everything living on the Earth.”

For Reflection

God's covenant confirms the continuation of the human race. The sign of that covenant is the rainbow.  It is a recurring symbol of God's promise. The earth has been purified and reborn.  Noah is the new Adam. God secured the reboot with a promise. Noah is the best of humankind in the worst times. The spark of righteousness lives in Noah and us all.

Pray

Pray in search of your inner Noah.  Look for the desires deeply embedded in your soul.  Pray and discover your path to righteousness in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

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Lose Your Life for My Sake

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor

John 10:11-18 The Message

11-13 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.
14-18 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”

For Reflection

Jesus was equivalent to God. Because Christ sacrificed his life, we are asked to sacrifice ours.  Some die for the love of God in Christ. They first died to their old self-centered life and were re-born into a new life in Christ.  Because of Christ, we can become equivalent to Christ, not in substance, but in form. Thus, we are saved from ourselves and reconciled to God.

Pray

Pray that you will worship God and follow Christ.  Pray that you will take on the cloak of Christ, die to your old life and mature into a new life in service to God. Pray that you will seek opportunities to become like Christ, a God collaborator.

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The Consequences of Following Christ

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor 

Matthew 10:34-39 The Message

34-37 “Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me.
38-39 “If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.

For Reflection

When you decide to choose to follow Christ, you emerge as a baby from a protected, comfortable societal womb into an alternative society of God-fearing folk. Your perceptions of the world will change.  Your desires to follow the Way of Christ will dominate your activity.

Be prepared. Your choice will come with a social price. Those who knew you before this transformation may not be comfortable with a new relationship and push you toward behaving as you had before. Find your new self in the image of Christ and be encouraged, comforted, and emboldened by the Holy Spirit that has displaced old desires in your soul.

Pray

Pray for the courage to embrace your new self.  Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Pray for wisdom. Pray for opportunities to grow into Grace.

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As Laborers Go into the Harvest

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor 

Matthew 10:5-15 The Message

5-8 Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge:
“Don’t begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.
9-10 “Don’t think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don’t need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.
11 “When you enter a town or village, don’t insist on staying in a luxury inn. Get a modest place with some modest people, and be content there until you leave.
12-15 “When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting. If they welcome you, be gentle in your conversation. If they don’t welcome you, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way. You can be sure that on Judgment Day they’ll be mighty sorry—but it’s no concern of yours now.

For Reflection

How should a missionary act?  Witness in word and deed.  Help those who are spiritually lost, who are suffering hunger, illness, or injustice.  Be a friend to those rejected by society.

Be humble. Avoid arguments of philosophy. They will dissolve in priceless hope. Those who choose to follow Christ do so, not out of fear,  but out of love, trust, and hope.

Pray

Pray that your life is a witness to the living God.  Pray that others will be attracted to God because they see God's love radiating in you.

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Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor

John 20:24-28 The Message

24-25 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.”
But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.”
27 Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”
28 Thomas said, “My Master! My God!”

For Reflection

At one time or another, a Christian has doubted.  In spite of all that God has revealed to us, God is still a mystery. God exists within our perception and also in an eternity beyond our ability to comprehend fully.

Thomas needed proof that the unbelievable had occurred; that Christ had defied death.  But Thomas's doubt did not erode his faith. On the contrary, it stimulated questions and a search for truth.  Christian doubt is not a sign of weakness, but an opportunity to understand and grow into grace.

Pray

Pray that your doubt will lead to a deeper understanding of your God story.  Pray that you will seek God's wisdom to displace doubt. Pray that you will embrace doubt and find conviction in the Christ event.

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Peter Denies

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor

John 18:15-18, 25-27 The Message

15-16 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple was known to the Chief Priest, and so he went in with Jesus to the Chief Priest’s courtyard. Peter had to stay outside. Then the other disciple went out, spoke to the doorkeeper, and got Peter in.
17 The young woman who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “Aren’t you one of this man’s disciples?”
He said, “No, I’m not.”
18 The servants and police had made a fire because of the cold and were huddled there warming themselves. Peter stood with them, trying to get warm.
25 Meanwhile, Simon Peter was back at the fire, still trying to get warm. The others there said to him, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?”
He denied it, “Not me.”
26 One of the Chief Priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”
27 Again, Peter denied it. Just then a rooster crowed.

For Reflection

At one time or another, most Christians have denied following Christ. Probably not vocally, but by deed. When we ignore, poverty, injustice, or the suffering of others we deny Christ.  When we fail to forgive, act humbly, or be unkind, we deny Christ.  When we fail to engage in the opportunities for obedient service to God we deny Christ. 

Pray

Pray for the courage to follow Christ. Let your action be a prayer to the Living God.

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John's Testimony to Jesus Is True

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor

John 20:30-3,21:24-25 New International Version

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe[a] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written

For Reflection

The Christ Event is true. The birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus show us the true purpose of humankind and the life paths we should strive to achieve.  It is both about our afterlives and our present life. God has given us all the capacities we need to choose the light over darkness, the good over the evil.

Pray

Pray by studying the word of God in the fellowship of believers and accept the challenge of the opportunities for choice as a divine right.

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Lead My People and Follow Me

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor

John 21:15-23 New International Version

Jesus Reinstates Peter

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”

For Reflection

Love Christ and follow His ways. Clothe yourself in the robes of Christ. Walk in the Word as Jesus has shown. Even if you fear the consequence or doubt your calling, or feel unworthy, the Holy Spirit will guide you.  

Pray

Pray so that out of love for Jesus, you will follow Him.

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Ethiopian Eunuch Hears the Good News

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor

The Risen Lord Appears

Acts 8:26-35 The Message (MSG)

The Ethiopian Eunuch

26-28 Later God’s angel spoke to Philip: “At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.
29-30 The Spirit told Philip, “Climb into the chariot.” Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
31-33 He answered, “How can I without some help?” and invited Philip into the chariot with him. The passage he was reading was this:
As a sheep led to slaughter,
    and quiet as a lamb being sheared,
He was silent, saying nothing.
    He was mocked and put down, never got a fair trial.
But who now can count his kin
    since he’s been taken from the earth?
34-35 The eunuch said, “Tell me, who is the prophet talking about: himself or some other?” Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him.

For Reflection

When your soul is filled with the Holy Spirit, you can hear God speak to you.  Even though you may not hear words as Philip did, you will understand God's command.  

In obedience, Philip was able to teach the Ethiopian. Was it entirely coincidental that the Eunuch was on the same road as Philip, or that he, somehow got a copy of Isiah, or that he was born into a culture and was educated to serve the elite?  I think not.  God has a habit of preparing us in ways that are so natural they lie hidden in our experiences.  By the time the Ethiopian was readied to learn, Philip was readied to teach and each grew into the grace of God.
Pray
As God had prepared the Ethiopian and Philip, God has prepared you. Suffer obedience to God's will and make your prayers evidence of doing the Word.

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Scriptures Equip Disciples for Good Work

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor

The Risen Lord Appears

2 Timothy 3:14-17 The Message

14-17 But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

For Reflection

We all have a judgment to make. Since the Christ Event, the Christian religion has grown into a variety of forms and styles as was predicted by the early variations of understanding Christianity. Each of us has a responsibility to become as authenticly Christian as we can manage. That means that, with exposure to so many variations of the Christian religion, we have to shoulder the responsibility of judging the authenticity of what and whom we follow.

It is vitally important that Christians look to the scriptures and the life of Christ for the standards by which we are faithful to the meaning of the Christ Event. Look to the fruits of our teachers and leaders. Are the outcomes of their ministry love, peace, distributive justice, non-violence, forgiveness, hospitality, humility, and the sacrifice of self for the greater good that Christ has shown? 

Pray

Pray for those whose ignorance or misrepresentation of the Gospels leads people away from the essence of God.  Pray for those who are misdirected by false prophets.  Pray that you will study the scriptures and see the authentic path God wills for each of us.

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The Reasons for the Resurrection

Acknowledging God

All Glory and Honor

The Risen Lord Appears

Luke 24:36-49 The Message

36-41 While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. He continued with them, “Don’t be upset, and don’t let all these doubting questions take over. Look at my hands; look at my feet—it’s really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn’t have muscle and bone like this.” As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. They still couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was too much; it seemed too good to be true.
41-43 He asked, “Do you have any food here?” They gave him a piece of leftover fish they had cooked. He took it and ate it right before their eyes.

You’re the Witnesses

44 Then he said, “Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled.”
45-49 He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. He said, “You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem! You’re the first to hear and see it. You’re the witnesses. What comes next is very important: I am sending what my Father promised to you, so stay here in the city until he arrives until you’re equipped with power from on high.”

For Reflection

Christ's physical appearance after His death is the proof of the predictions and, perhaps more importantly, proof of his divinity.  Jesus asked the witnesses to wait for the Holy Spirit to fall upon them.  The burden and joy of a life in Christ are guided from one's soul.

Pray

Pray that you invite the Holy Spirit into your soul and heed His counsel.

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